Safari Tart - African Safari Lodge Reviews | Independent Reviews of African Safari Lodges

Hippo saves zebra & wildbeest from drowning

by Carrie on May 18, 2012 • No Comments

Accommodation/Lodges / South Luangwa / Zambia

Kaingo Camp, South Luangwa, Zambia

by Carrie on Apr 16, 2012 • No Comments

I have been invited to Shenton Safaris camps in the wild South Luangwa Valley of Zambia and these pics make me want to pack my bag right now! This is real wild Africa, much more earthy and spontaneous than a safari in South Africa with lots of animal thrills to...

Accommodation/Lodges / Malawi

Mumbo Island ranked in Top 100 Hotels in World – read what I think…

by Carrie on Mar 30, 2012 • No Comments

Is Mumbo Island one of my Top 100 places to go in the world…..YES absolutely! People often ask me where is the best place I have been and when reeling off my personal favourites Mumbo Island is...

Accommodation/Lodges / Animal Antics / Malawi / Safari snippets / South Africa

Safari pics that make you want to be there!

by Carrie on Mar 30, 2012 • No Comments

When I look at these photographs, I want to be there right now – don’t you? See link on each photo to find out where it is.

Accommodation/Lodges / Eastern Cape / South Africa

Sibuya Game Lodge, nr Port Elizabeth

by Carrie on Jan 26, 2012 • No Comments

This privately owned reserve up the Kariega River from Kenton-on-Sea in the Eastern Cape is the Garden of Eden. It has all the components of nature that make you want to weep at its beauty, marvel at the perfect animal specimens all fat and glossy coats, and sink into the sophoric rhythm...

Accommodation/Lodges / Botswana / Okavango Delta / Safari snippets

Abu Camp, Okavango – new baby elephant

by Carrie on Dec 22, 2011 • 1 Comment

IT’S A GIRL! Abu Camp, best known as one of the first elephant back riding safari lodges, deep in the Okavango Delta, has had a new arrival. Shireni, one of the Camp’s leading matriach’s, gave birth to her third living calf at ten in the evening on 17 December 2011. Measuring approximately 90cm...

Accommodation/Lodges / South Africa / Western Cape

India House, Bains Kloof Pass, nr Cape Town

by Carrie on Apr 12, 2011 • No Comments

I love it when I find a real gem of a place when I least expect it. That is what happened at India House. I went to assess Bastiaanskloof for star grading and found that part of their accommodation was a divine villa called India House in the middle of...

Accommodation/Lodges / Uganda

UGANDA; Gorillas, Chimps & tree-climbing Lions

by Carrie on Feb 4, 2011 • 1 Comment

Uganda doesn’t get talked about that much when it comes to safari and most people don’t even know it’s got much more than gorillas. In a country the size of UK, there’s so much more……. including: a whopping 1000 species...

Accommodation/Lodges / Boats / Mozambique

Dancing With Dolphins in Mozambique

by Carrie on Aug 5, 2010 • No Comments

Courtney Ward has been “dancing with dolphins” for ten years in the warm waters of southern Mozambique at Ponta Malongane. People say she is part dolphin and you can believe it when you see her gliding through the water like a mermaid with her mono-fin. Dolphins crowd around her...

Accommodation/Lodges / Animal Antics / Madikwe / South Africa

Buffalo Ridge Safari Lodge

by Carrie on Feb 2, 2010 • 2 Comments

Guests at Buffalo Ridge Safari Lodge had a surprise visit from an opportunistic elephant, who simply couldn’t resist the cool, crystal clear, swimming pool water on a hot spring day in Madikwe Game Reserve. Photographed by 18 year old Tom Rudolphie of The Netherlands. Buffalo Ridge is a community...

Accommodation/Lodges / Eastern Cape / South Africa

Samara Private Game Reserve

by Carrie on Jan 8, 2010 • 1 Comment

I have been going on safari in Africa every year for 15 years, yet it was at Samara Private Game Reserve, in the middle of nowhere in the Graaff-Reinet Karoo, that I found the possibility of two elements of a safari that had so far eluded me; a yoga mat and...

Accommodation/Lodges / South Africa / Western Cape

Southern Africa Yoga Safaris

by Carrie on Oct 20, 2009 • 5 Comments

In a hidden location amongst giant sandstone rocks on the West Coast of South Africa near Eland’s Bay, Southern African Yoga Safaris makes use of a rocky retreat for a getaway with a difference. While doing your ‘Salute to the Sun’ or Tree Posture, you stare out and may meet...

Animal Antics

Leopard vs Mouse

by Carrie on Oct 16, 2009 • 2 Comments

These extraordinary leopard pictures were captured by photography student Casey Gutteridge at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire. Copyright of http://solentnews.biz/. Seemingly unaware of the beast, the mouse diced with death when it tucked into the leopard’s lunch. The mischievous rodent grabbed at scraps of meat thrown into the...

Accommodation/Lodges / Kruger region / Madikwe / Waterberg

Eco-friendly Safaris

by Carrie on Oct 16, 2009 • No Comments

Here’s some news about eco-friendly safari camps and ‘green’ safari lodges that go the extra mile take care of the environment: Garonga Safari Camp Garonga Safari Camp in the Makalali Reserve (not too far from Kruger National Park) ensures that all rubbish is separated and foodstuffs are used for warthogs...

Accommodation/Lodges / Animal Antics / Madikwe / South Africa

Tuningi Safari Lodge

by Carrie on Sep 2, 2009 • 2 Comments

Look who joined the afternoon picnic at Tuningi Safari lodge! These curious young lions came to investigate as guests from Tuningi Safari Lodge enjoyed their sundowner game drive drinks & snacks in the Madikwe Game Reserve.

Accommodation/Lodges / South Africa / Western Cape

Bushman’s Kloof Wilderness Reserve

by Carrie on Jul 15, 2009 • No Comments

‘Number One Hotel in the World’ according to 2009 US Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards reader’s survey. What an accolade! This 5-star wilderness resort in the foothills of the Cederberg Mountains is one of my favourite places with a landscape like no other only 270km from Cape Town.

Accommodation/Lodges / South Africa / Western Cape

Garden Route Game Lodge

by Carrie on Jun 23, 2009 • No Comments

I was really impressed with Garden Route Game Lodge. It is of course ‘soft safari’, as are all the game reserves in the Western Cape. It is because this populated region doesn’t have tracts of spare land the size of small European countries - like Kruger Park - in which the largest...

Animal Antics / Kenya

Tortoise Adopts Hippo

by Carrie on Jun 23, 2009 • No Comments

When this baby hippo losts its mother, it found the next best thing, a giant tortoise. Nicknamed Owen, weighing around 300 kg (650 pounds), this little hippo was swept down the Sabaki River to the Indian Ocean, then washed back ashore by tsunami waves that struck the Kenyan coast on...

Accommodation/Lodges / Kruger region / South Africa

Singita Lebombo Safari Lodge

by Carrie on Jan 12, 2009 • 3 Comments

I wouldn’t mind going to Heaven if it was like Singita Lebombo. I have been here once before (Lebombo, not Heaven) but this visit had a more profound effect on me. The subtle change in décor, from touches of lime green and grey amongst a sea of white, to a...

Safari snippets

Safari Tart meets South Africa’s Greats

by Carrie on Dec 3, 2008 • No Comments

I arrived in Africa from London in 1995 and in that time I’ve been lucky enough to meet two great icons of world history; Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela. Both are my heroes whom I hold in the very highest regard above all others. It was never my goal to meet them, I...

Accommodation/Lodges / Zambia

Elephants march through Mfuwe Lodge

by Carrie on Oct 29, 2008 • 1 Comment

The 18-room Mfuwe Lodge has a large reception area particularly suited to wandering elephants. Their favourite mango trees are just on the other side of the building and they see no reason why they shouldn’t take the direct route straight through the lodge!

Accommodation/Lodges / Madikwe / South Africa

Makanyane Safari Lodge

by Carrie on Oct 24, 2008 • No Comments

My first introduction to Makanyane Safari Lodge was a face to face meeting with an elephant at the door of my cottage. “I’ll just go and shoo him away, said the lodge manager, Garth Kew. So he walked towards said elephant and shouted “Shoo!” Elephant ignored him, so Garth ran...

Animal Antics

Lion Eats Car

by Carrie on Sep 2, 2008 • 1 Comment

If you ever thought lions look like large pussy cats, take a look at these photos taken by a holidaymaker in the Krugersdorp area of South Africa.

Accommodation/Lodges / Kruger region / South Africa

Lion Sands Ivory Lodge

by Carrie on May 20, 2008 • 1 Comment

You may think that a safari lodge decorated in no other colours than black and white (and variations from rich creams to deep brown), could be monotone. But it’s not. Lion Sands Ivory Lodge in the Lion Sands Private Game Reserve adjacent to Kruger National Park, uses shades and textures...

Accommodation/Lodges / Namibia

Twyfelfontein Country Lodge & Opuwo Country Hotel

by Carrie on May 8, 2008 • No Comments

Damaraland, Namibia Not many places make your jaw drop in amazement, or make you want to utter a lazily drawn-out expletive, because no other suitable word comes to mind. But Twyfelfontein Country Lodge did just that. This immense thatched lodge, in the heart of red-rock country in the middle of...

Accommodation/Lodges / Kruger region / South Africa

Royal Malewane, Thornybush Reserve

by Carrie on May 5, 2008 • No Comments

When people mention Royal Malewane, they use the kind of hushed tones often reserved for someone held in high regard. This is because Royal Malewane seems to have effortlessly created a safari lodge at the pinnacle of taste, within the boundaries of timeless, classic elegance. Simply put, it epitomizes all...

Accommodation/Lodges / Boats / Kariba / Zimbabwe

Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

by Carrie on May 5, 2008 • 3 Comments

“Can you come to Lake Kariba on Thursday for a week?”, said a friendly voice. “I know it’s Monday today but I have space for one more person on my houseboat going down the length of Lake Kariba.” My initial reaction was that I couldn’t get organised in three days,...

Accommodation/Lodges / Kafue / Zambia

Hippo Lodge, Kafue National Park, Zambia – The Cherry on the Safari Cake

by Carrie on Mar 31, 2008 • 2 Comments

Just when I thought life on safari couldn’t get any better, it did. It was my birthday and I was sitting in a bubbling hot spring on the edge of the Kafue River in Zambia. Fireflies were dancing around my head and a fellow journalist on this press trip –...

Plains Camp, Platforms Sleepout and Rhino Post Lodge: walking & 4x4

Accommodation/Lodges / Kruger region / South Africa

Plains Camp, Platforms Sleepout and Rhino Post Lodge: walking & 4×4

by Carrie on Mar 15, 2008 • No Comments

On a private concession inside Kruger National Park…. Rhino Walking Safaris have, in my opinion, got it right. They have a variety of safari experiences in their three accommodation options; Rhino Post Lodge, Plains Camp and Platforms – a multi-level large wooden sleepout platform in the middle of nowhere, where...

Accommodation/Lodges / Botswana / Okavango Delta

Horseriding in Okavango Delta

by Carrie on Mar 15, 2008 • 2 Comments

This is no ordinary horse ride! Novice riders need not apply; experience and a high level of in-the-saddle competence is a pre-requisite for this adventure with African Horseback Safaris. You have to handle horses that are fit and raring-to-go, as well possible encounters with big game of the Okavango Delta like...

Latest entries

Governor’s Camp host BBC Film Crew

by Carrie on May 11, 2012 • No Comments

BBC’s Planet Earth Live film crew have set up at Governors Camp in the Masai Mara – one of the first and most loved safari lodges I visited in the mid 1990s. The BBC’s latest wildlife documentary Planet Earth Live will be broadcast live during the month of May 2012 and the team staying at...

Accommodation/Lodges / Safari snippets / South Africa / Western Cape

Yoga Detox in Tulbagh

by Carrie on Apr 30, 2012 • No Comments

A few springbok and zebra don’t make a safari, but add yoga, vegetarian detoxing conscience cuisine and an eclectic bunch of women warriors from all over the globe and set this in an amphitheatre of mountains in the Tulbagh valley about 2-hours drive from Cape Town and you’ve got a yoga safari for the soul. I...

Books / Botswana / Kruger region / Madikwe / Namibia / South Africa / Zimbabwe

Style Icons book – Top SA Designers and Their Interiors

by Carrie on Apr 10, 2012 • No Comments

If you’ve been to some of South Africa’s best safari lodges, you will find interiors designed by many of the top decorators featured in this inspiring book. I’ve been lucky enough to have visited and written...

Books / Kenya

Daphne Sheldrik the elephant lady of Kenya – new book

by Carrie on Mar 30, 2012 • No Comments

Daphne Sheldrick is one of those indomitable women who take it upon themselves to save a species. She was the first person to successfully hand-rear newborn elephants against all advice and has had a huge impact on conservation in Kenya and worldwide. She founded the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the...

Accommodation/Lodges / Kruger region / South Africa

Khaya Ndlovu Manor House, nr Kruger/Hoedspruit

by Carrie on Mar 30, 2012 • No Comments

Some photos make you want to be in the picture at this very moment and this is one of them. Read what writer Fiona Zerbst has to say about Khaya Ndlovu, a private lodge near Kruger……… Four-star Khaya Ndlovu Manor House, reclining in the bushveld close to Hoedspruit, just happens to be the family...

Madikwe / Safari snippets / South Africa

Photographic Safari at Jaci’s Lodges with Roger and Pat de la Harpe

by Carrie on Mar 29, 2012 • No Comments

Want to take brilliant safari photos? Then you won’t be in better hands than Roger and Pat de la Harpe on their photographic safari in Madikwe Game Reserve based at Jaci’s Safari Lodges from 18-21 June 2012 (see our write up of Jaci’s). See the programme or email them:

Safari snippets / South Africa

Poisoning Rhino Horns to Stop Poachers

by Carrie on Feb 2, 2012 • No Comments

Harsh sentence a sign that SA’s getting tough on scourge: three Mozambican rhino poachers were today given 25 year sentences for killing rhino in Kruger National Park. The picture shows a white rhino having poison injected into its horn to deter poachers.

Accommodation/Lodges / Boats / KZN / Mozambique / South Africa

Ocean Safari on MSC Sinfonia; Durban to Mozambique

by Carrie on Nov 26, 2011 • 2 Comments

Cruising the South Africa coast is the fastest growing holiday excursion for South African residents and I was invited aboard the MSC Sinfonia for the 4-night return trip from Durban to Bazaruto Island off the coast of Mozambique. There was a whole media contingent and we all got to bring our partners and were accommodated...

Kenya / Masai Mara / Safari snippets

Goodbye to the Governor of Governor’s Camps, Kenya

by Carrie on Nov 17, 2011 • No Comments

ARIS LEONIDAS GRAMMATICAS 20/05/1938 – 15/10/2011 It is with heavy hearts that the Grammaticas family has to inform you of the passing away of our beloved Aris. After a long and extraordinary life Aris slipped away peacefully at home in Ololua, Karen, surrounded by the family he loved so much. Aris will be...

Malawi / Safari snippets / Zambia

World Responsible Tourism Awards: Robin Pope Safaris

by Carrie on Nov 11, 2011 • No Comments

Robin Pope Safaris operating in Zambia and Malawi have won two special awards at the World Responsible Tourism Day at World Travel Market (WTM) in London. They were awarded joint Overall Winner of the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards plus winner in the poverty Reduction category as well. This is a great achievement as there...

Animal Antics / Safari snippets

Antelope Attacks Biker

by Carrie on Nov 9, 2011 • No Comments

Right time right place for the helmet-mounted camera, but wrong place wrong time for this mountain biker on a race in a wildlife park in KwaZulu Natal. See this extraordinary footge: http://youtu.be/S2oymHHyV1M

Safari snippets

World Rhino Day

by Carrie on Sep 22, 2011 • No Comments

Further to my previous post, ABSA the male rhino at Aquila Game Reserve near Cape Town died from his injuries. Today is World Rhino Day, yet every day a rhino is killed in Africa.